The Bass Player: A Song For Dad

This is the short trailer for the the Bass Player, a film that was nominated for the 2009 Independent Film and Television Academy Award in Ireland, played at the Mill Valley, Nashville, and Dublin International Film Festivals and aired on RTE (Irish TV) in August 2009.

“The Bass Player: A Song for Dad” was the critics choice in the Irish Times, The Irish Sunday Independent, the Sunday Business Post, and the Sun.

In this eloquent, witty homage to his father, filmmaker Niall McKay wrestles with his family’s unsettling past to overcome his fear of commitment. As Niall helps his elderly father Jim, a jazz bass player, return home to Ireland, father and son revisit Niall’s tumultuous childhood with an abusive, unpredictable mother and a musician father who was often on the road. It’s a parallel journey into Niall’s admiration for his father and his innermost doubts about love, and their conversations take on a confessional quality as they reveal their darkest moments. But the film lyrically (and sometimes limerickly) takes us full circle, capturing joyous moments of healing and celebration. Shot in Switzerland, France, Ireland and the US, geography and the idea of home play prominent roles. Scored with Irish jazz and, particularly, Jim’s bass, the music is much more than a soundtrack, and the film is not unlike the tunes Jim strums as it explores and captures the nuances, tones and oscillations of life and relationships. Striking many poignant chords, the filmmaker’s evolving notions of family and commitment will charm and amuse. — Carrie Lozano